Review of essay on [[Systems thinking MOC|Systems thinking]] titled [Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System](http://donellameadows.org/archives/leverage-points-places-to-intervene-in-a-system/) by [[@Donella Meadows]]. Covers many points from her book [[Thinking in Systems (book)]]. ## Summary Leverage points are are places within a complex system (a corporation, an economy, a living body, a city, an ecosystem) where ==a small shift in one thing can produce big changes in everything==. ### PLACES TO INTERVENE IN A SYSTEM (in increasing order of effectiveness) - 12\. Constants, parameters, numbers (such as subsidies, taxes, standards). - 11\. The sizes of buffers and other stabilizing stocks, relative to their flows. - 10\. The structure of material stocks and flows (such as transport networks, population age structures). - 9\. The lengths of delays, relative to the rate of system change. - 8\. The strength of negative feedback loops, relative to the impacts they are trying to correct against. - 7\. The gain around driving positive feedback loops. - 6\. The structure of information flows (who does and does not have access to information). - 5\. The rules of the system (such as incentives, punishments, constraints). - 4\. The power to add, change, evolve, or self-organize system structure. - 3\. The goals of the system. - 2\. The mindset or paradigm out of which the system — its goals, structure, rules, delays, parameters — arises. - 1\. The power to transcend paradigms. --- tags: #SystemsThinking